Beach huts, Muizenberg
In the 1970s, a system of wine bottle neck “bus
tickets” was introduced by the Wine and Spirit Board. On these tickets, up to
three coloured stripes designated origin, vintage and cultivar. The flaw in the
system was that the public assumed that the more stripes there were, the better
the wine. As the third stripe denoted “cultivar” it was translated as meaning
that a single cultivar wine was better than a blend. It has taken many years to
recover from this flaw and, while red blends have become respectable, only recently
have white blends achieved serious recognition.
This week, our Wine of the Week is a white blend and we’ll tell you next week
about the great wines we tasted at a white blends awards ceremony. Please click
on these links to see this week’s stories:
- Bellevue launches 1953 Pinotage, their new Restaurant and Tasting Room
- Ocean Basket summer celebration at Canal Walk
- Groote Post launches their SeaSalter white blend at the Cape Grace
- Diners Club Wine Maker of the Year candidates
- What is on the Menu this week? Pollo Orvietana
- Menu's Wine of the Week. SeaSalter from Groote Post
We visited Bellevue Wine Estate in
Bottelary recently to taste their wines and they told us that their new
restaurant and wine tasting venue would be opening soon and that we would be
invited. This launch took place last week and it was also their opportunity to
launch an iconic new wine, 1953 Pinotage, made from the vineyards planted on
Bellevue 64 years ago. Pinotage vines (a cross of Pinot Noir and Cinsault -aka
Hermitage- propagated by Professor Abraham Perold in 1925) were planted on
Bellevue in 1953 by PK Morkel. The grapes for the first commercially produced Pinotage
were harvested from these vines and made into this original South African wine which
sold under the Lanzerac label, owned at the time by Stellenbosch Farmers’
Winery. Bellevue is an historic wine estate (established in 1701) with its
original Cape Dutch homestead built in 1803. The modern new facilities
complement the original farm buildings
Over the last year, we have been asked by
Ocean Basket management to sample new ideas in their menus and give
suggestions. Last week, we were invited to Canal Walk Ocean Basket with several
other members of the media to hear about and taste what they are currently
launching. This was their Summer Celebration, where we could taste some of the
new ideas they have for food in the restaurants. They have been moving to a
more Mediterranean style and doing their best to work around the diminishing
supply of sustainable fish. And we were told to come hungry. And this after the
lunch at Bellevue!
Minerality
in wine is 'a good thing'; it adds to the complexity. Sometimes, a little salt
is found in wine. It is not a negative flavour and adds some nice savouriness,
it helps to highlight other flavours and aromas in the wine, as it does in food
and it often comes from the same areas. We look for it in wines from Darling,
Durbanville and other West Coast areas. Groote Post has some in this new
Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend just released by the Pentz family of Groote Post
and it is an impressive wine. We were invited to taste it and six of their
other wines this week at the Cape Grace
Short
list of candidates for the Diners Club Wine Maker of the Year and Young Wine
Maker of the Year
These awards will be presented on Saturday 25th November
in Franschhoek. We have been invited and hope to be there if we get
accommodation. It is a long way to drive home after midnight.
Winemaker of the Year Finalists: Category - Pinotage
·
André
Scriven - Rooiberg Pinotage Reserve 2016 (Robertson)
·
Christiaan
Groenewald - New Cape Wines - Arendskloof Pinotage 2015 and Eagles Cliff
Pinotage 2017 (Worcester)
·
Clayton
Reabow - Môreson Widowmaker Pinotage 2015 (Franschhoek)
·
De
Wet Viljoen - Neethlingshof Pinotage 2016 (Stellenbosch)
·
Niël
Groenewald - Bellingham Homestead Pinotage 2016 (Franschhoek)
Young Winemaker of the Year Finalists: Category - White Wines
·
Charl
Schoeman - Simonsig Roussanne 2016 and Roussanne Marsanne 2016 (Stellenbosch)
·
Murray
Barlow - Rustenberg Stellenbosch Chardonnay 2016 (Stellenbosch)
·
Philip
Viljoen - Bon Courage Chardonnay Unwooded 2017 and Noble Late Harvest 2016
(Weisser Riesling/Gewürztraminer) (Robertson)
·
Wade
Roger-Lund - Jordan Blanc de Blancs Méthode Cap Classique 2015 (Stellenbosch)
We first had this
lovely summery dish at Morgenster when, several years ago, we were invited to lunch
with owner Giulio Bertrand and it was prepared by his chef. If you can get hold
of the Morgenster Balsamic and their Olive Oil it will be superb. Lynne cooked
it for friends this weekend as a simple supper and it was delicious, so we
thought it might be time to reprise this recipe.
8
jointed chicken pieces – seasoned flour - Extra Virgin olive oil - fresh herbs
(thyme, rosemary and oregano) - 2 bay leaves - 500ml chicken or vegetable stock
16
kalamata olives - 3 or 4 large peeled potatoes, cut in quarters or eighths -
Balsamic vinegar di Modena
Dust the chicken
joints with flour, braise with herbs until golden in olive oil. Add olives and
stock, and par-cook chicken for about 15 minutes. Add potatoes for the last
15-20 minutes, so that they will be cooked at the end, but firm. When all is
tender, ensure that the stock/juices are reduced until consistency is slightly
syrupy. You might want to pour this off into another pot, as you don’t want
your chicken/potatoes overcooking to pulp. Add generous dollops of vinegar five
minutes before serving and swirl all the syrupy gorgeousness to coat every
morsel. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve with last minute drizzles of extra
virgin olive oil and chopped parsley. (By courtesy of Christiaan van Graan-de
Groen – former chef/butler to Mr Giulio Bertrand, Morgenster Estate)
Menu's Wine of the Week. SeaSalter from Groote Post in the Darling area
In next week’s MENU: White blends, Distell 5 Star brandies Wine Concepts Champagne Fest
16th November 2017
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
Phones: +27 21 439 3169 / 083 229 1172 / 083 656 4169
Postal address: 60 Arthurs Rd, Sea Point 8005
If you like the photographs you see in our publications, please look at our Adamastor Photo website for our rate card and samples from our portfolio
Recommendations of products and outside events are not solicited or charged for, and are made at the authors’ pleasure. All photographs, recipes and text used in these newsletters and our blogs are © John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus. Our restaurant reviews are usually unsolicited. We prefer to pay for our meals and not be paid in any way by anyone. Whether we are invited or go independently, we don’t feel bad if we say we didn’t like it. Honesty is indeed our best policy. While every effort is made to avoid mistakes, we are human and they do creep in occasionally, for which we apologise. This electronic journal has been sent to you because you have personally subscribed to it or because someone you know has asked us to send it to you or forwarded it to you themselves. Addresses given to us will not be divulged to any person or organisation. We collect them only for our own promotional purposes. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please click here to send us a message and if you wish to be removed fro
